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Listen to the bowel cancer warnings

By John Gilbey

MY BIRTHDAY last year didn’t turn out as planned. Instead of an enjoyable lunch, I spent the afternoon in the company of some smart clinicians and an impressive set of Zeiss optics.

Together, they explored an intimate body cavity previously of perceived interest only to the US Department of Homeland Security. The screen of the endoscope charted all too clearly the progress of the excavation – a strange mixture of a drain survey and some peculiar form of medical archaeology.

Lumpen and ugly, the tumour, when it loomed into view, looked out of place and sinister.

Lumpen and ugly, the tumour, when it loomed into view, looked out of place and sinister

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Maybe it was the sedation, but my first thought on hearing the boggling diagnosis of bowel cancer was&colon; “Great, I’ve just paid out for two life memberships…”

Bitterness followed soon after. A year later, after some impressive surgery, a fortnight in hospital and six bewildering months of chemotherapy I emerged chastened and thoughtful. How I had missed the warning signs of this all-too-common disease, despite a career in science that has put heavy emphasis on evidence-based reasoning, was a mystery.

Only when I looked back at my science-fiction writing over the past few years did I begin to see the pattern emerging of someone sinking towards the dark side. In six of my last nine published stories, a central character either dies or suffers life-threatening illness. In one, I even gave the key protagonist the nerve damage I would get from chemotherapy – before I knew I was ill.

It seems that even scientists are adept at self-delusion. As soon as I realised that for weeks I had been choosing my route across campus on the basis of proximity of toilets, I should have seen my doctor, not made excuses to myself that I was busy – a degree of obfuscation that may yet prove fatal.

On the bright side, I have had more hugs this year than in the previous decade and an impressive amount of support from often surprising directions. But, with awareness campaigns ongoing in the US and UK, the take-home message is this&colon; if you think all is not well with your entrails, don’t rely on it getting better by itself – get professional advice.